Aston Martin trades sports for luxury with upcoming sedan, SUV

Aston Martin is set to offer the most diverse lineup in its history under an audacious plan to boost sales beyond current levels.

The British marque has focused almost entirely on sports cars in recent years, but that is about to change.

Fresh from unveiling the new Aston Martin DB11 at the Geneva motor show, company chief executive Andy Palmer says the brand will adopt a new approach.

Sports cars will remain at the core of the brand, adopting three distinct tiers led by the new DB11 along with successors to the V12-powered Vanquish and compact, largely V8-powered Vantage lines.

But Palmer has confirmed plans to drop the current Rapide sedan – a model based on the discontinued DB9 – and replace it with two distinct models. Those cars will take the form of a high-end luxury sedan to rival the Rolls-Royce Ghost and a large crossover to tackle Bentley's Bentayga and the Porsche Cayenne.

Aston Martin DB11

He says the strategy adopts the most successful elements of three rival marques.

"It's a way of building momentum around the brand," Palmer says.

"Sports cars puts us a little bit like Ferrari, a crossover puts us a little bit like Porsche and a sedan puts us a little bit like Rolls-Royce."

Those cars will be joined by limited-edition models such as the track-only Vulcan, hardcore Vantage GT12 or cinema-only DB10 created for James Bond in Spectre.

"We're committed to launching two special cars each year," Palmer says.

"We signed off two more yesterday at a board meeting. Our Q Special Operations team will be constantly pushing their boundaries of what's possible."